Father
by Fallen-Gabriel
Summary: Jake disappears off the radar, while Sherry ends up facing an old enemy, and when the time comes, both of them must face their past…


A.N: Shitty title is shitty! :D I give up…

Prologue – Red Queen

The overhanging arch of steel was held by several boulders, the left of the long beam on the ground from where one walked in, leaving a very small, triangular opening. The darkness was layered in silence, only the occasional groan could be heard from within the deep recesses, as the earth grinded on metal. A maddening _drip, drip _sounded far away, slimy chemicals and fouled water sprinkling from somewhere within, and the steady _clack_ of pebbles falling.

But suddenly, there was a shift, a rustle of cloth and leather. The tell tale signs of booted foot falls. This was familiar. Long ago, in these desolate halls that were not caving in, there would have been the measured steps of leather soles, the _squeak _of rubber. There would be light, everything was once bright and white. Now, the facility was an empty husk, long since abandoned and breaking.

A beam of light cut the gloom, opening the maw of darkness, and spread it wide. The cool metal of the silver flashlight was held in the grip of a young man, as he dodged under yet another low hanging arch. His clear cut blue eyes scanned all he could see, pupils dilated. He inhaled sharply, right hand twitching to grab his gun again. He'd already come across two mutated rodents, and more than his fair share of abnormally large cockroaches…

His black shirt was slightly loose across his abdomen, leading down to black jeans, and combat boots. His fingerless gloves felt tight and clammy against his skin, his senses heightened in the dark. Short strawberry blonde hair ran over his scalp, down the nape of his neck, and a scar ran along his cheek. His face resembled that of a man who had once walked these corridors, when they were a labyrinth of lab coats and spindle-fingered scientists, weaving mutagens for a cause long forgotten.

Jake Muller stood in the doorway of a rather large room, one that was mostly untouched by the blast that had destroyed the base long ago. Half the room was covered in rubble, leading down a staircase to a computer monitor, and a large tube looking thing. He ran up to the pile, jumping on a sizable rock, and stood on top of it with a heave. "Damn…This place is a wreck."

Jake scanned his light at the bottom, noticing a very, very large rodent – probably standing as tall as his hip – feasting on what looked to be some kind of…remains? He grimaced, taking out his gun, and fired. He grazed its fat hind leg, the creature giving a screech of pain. It raised its beady red eyes up at him, nose twitching violently, and opened its ugly black maw. A long tongue emerged, tipped with a claw, and its paws curled back at the pads, revealing a pair of two pronged talons.

_I should have known…_

Flashlight under his gun hand, he fired off three rounds into its ugly mug, the top of its head blistering open to reveal a large eye…Looked more like a damn wart. "This just keeps getting better and better!" He chuckled grimly, jumping out of the way just in time to miss that lethal claw. "Damn thing looks like its splitting apart…"

Jake rolled behind a rock, the claw attacking it from the other side as it approached. He pulled himself on top of it instead, his feet sliding in the gravel along its surface. His flashlight was lashed away by the claw, scoring his hand, and he hissed. "Son of a bitch!" He yelled, raising his gun, vision swimming with colored dots, and fired off two rounds.

He hit the bulging 'eye growth' dead on. It squealed horribly, shaking its head, and the tongue whipped back into its mouth. The rat turned, running, but Jake was faster.

He leapt off the rock, his feet slamming into the disgusting, rotted remains on the floor, and he slid. _You're not going to get away that easy! _Jake fired, wasting his entire clip, as the rat made a dashing escape to a crevice in the wall. Just as it was about to be home free, he fired his last shop…Bull's eye. The growth exploded, showering the wall in gore, and he smirked.

"Little bastard…" He said to the _click _of his gun, at the ready in case more showed up. His head turned, eyebrow rising on the maggot filled bits on the floor. His flashlight had rolled, resting right in front of the console, and directly in front of…Whatever that thing was. Jake approached cautiously, not taking any chances, and picked up his light source. Without further adieu he approached the dead monster and poked it with his foot. Something popped, spraying his boot, and he grimaced.

The whole thing was rotting, parts of it moving with maggots, and some pieces of white flesh caved in to reveal gut laced bones. Some protruded out, the ribs most likely, although he wondered who the hell could tell, considering how far gone and mutated the damn thing was. Some kind of long fleshy tube thing – like the rat's tongue – spread diagonal from it, a weird mouth decorated in fangs at its end.

He kneeled down, holstering his gun, and grabbed the white skinned head. Well, what was left of what he assumed the head to be…The skin was cool, smoothly textured, and he could feel the maggots underneath, eating away – probably getting ready to become full blown mutated flies. The smell that greeted his nostrils made him gag; covering his mouth and nose with his arm he continued to point the light.

_Now I know where it got that eye wart thing from…_

This thing had one just like it, a huge, red, gaping eye. He shook his head, letting it go as he stood, and turned to the computer, ignoring the disgusting _squish_. A little red light greeted his gaze, and his eyes narrowed. He reached forward to –

"Are you sure you want to do this?" A sleek voice asked, deep, but feminine. He frowned, turning his head, and the woman behind him was once again struck by just how much he looked like his father.

"You think I'd be having second thoughts now? Little late for that, don't you think?" He lowered his flashlight, keeping her in darkness, but he could tell when she shook her head.

"It's your choice then. I turned the power back on for you, and I've marked other locations in the GPS on your phone." She sighed. "I'm not sure how much you'll get though. Raccoon City might have held information, but it's long gone." She slowly rounded the console, and Jake kept his eyes on her.

_I don't trust her…She makes my damn skin crawl._

"This is for you…I'm sure he would have wanted you to have it." She withdrew a square, brown shaped package seemingly from space, dropping it at the end of the monitor space.

"Alright…Thanks." He added, but it was half-hearted as he turned to the computer. He didn't turn around to see if she'd left, he knew she'd probably already be long gone. Jake pressed the power button, the computer surging to life with the _whoosh _of turbines, and the _hiss _of age. His brow furrowed, eyes darting around, and he smirked.

"Feel like I'm in the damn stone ago, computers take this long to boot up." A black screen appeared before him, a green bar flashing. "Been a long time since I've seen that." He frowned; unsure of what to do, but then a list of commands appeared.

Type:

/online – to activate the console

/UMBRELLA – to access main frame

The last one had the same '/' but it had a bunch of numbers in it, ending with the word 'info'. Jake typed in the last one, the large keys _clicking _under his nimble digits. A _ping _rang out, four white triangles appearing on the screen, joined at the tips, with dips at the ends of them. Another four triangles appeared, sliding into the openings, and Jake's eyes narrowed. It made an Umbrella.

_Figures…_

A red flash appeared behind him, and he jerked, turning to face the tube at the center of the room, right in front of the corpse. Some kind of metal thing moved at the middle, reminding him once more of an eye.

_The guy who ran this place must have had a fetish…_

He approached slowly, rounding the monster, and glared as the tube bubbled up, the contraption inside shifting. Then it spoke: "Red Queen online, activation in ten seconds, please wait for system reboot." The mellow voice was laced with static, jittery, and the pitch went up and down. He waited, crossing his arms, and slowly…The eye moved to him. "Identification?"

_Shit, this isn't good…_

"Jake Muller?" The eye twitched.

"Access denied." Plain and simple – now he knew why everyone hated Umbrella so bad. Maybe he should try a different tactic?

"Look, I just want to know about my dad, alright?" He raised his hands as if trying to pacify it and he knew, he just **knew** that somewhere deep inside, he was nuts for talking to a computer. The eye continued to stare at him, as if it were actually debating.

"Identification?"

"His name was Albert Wesker." That got a reaction. Damn thing stalled, looked like it was about to reboot itself. "I take it you knew him? Let me guess, he fucked you over too?" He smirked, the tube bubbling again.

"Albert Wesker wiped memory banks, no information left to acquire." The 'Red Queen' groused, static laced voice now one solid pitch.

_Is it just me or does this thing sound pissed off? Maybe this wasn't the best idea…_

"Do you have any security feeds or anything?" He frowned, crossing his arms again. "I mean, I get it, you don't have any info on viruses or whatever – not that I want it – but I mean…Like a picture of him?" He tried to come off aloof, like he didn't care, but he sounded a little desperate even to his ears. Once more, the thing watched him, before the iris rose and faced forward, towards the console.

"You got Ivan? Not bad, comrade." Jake turned, the heavily accented voice throwing him off, and found the console was alive, the display screen glowing bright. He glanced at the tube before stalking over, his pace fast when he heard another voice.

"So this is it?" It was deep and strong. The guy who owned it sounded confident, the _click _of his boots sounding over the floor, and Jake stared…He was tall, like him, but blonde, his hair slicked back. He wore all black, including a pair of gloves. He stood with his back straight, strides even and measured as he approached the Russian guy, his shaded eyes looking at the red thing.

_That's my dad…_

Jake actually reached out, touching the screen, as if…As if he could touch the past. As if he could fall through the screen, go back to that day, face him…He wanted to look him in the eye. But he felt numb, and he retracted his hand quickly, staring at the screen. So what if he could take a trip to the past? What the hell would he do? What would he say? Would he try to stop him, because, obviously, he was fucking nuts! Jake wasn't sure. If he could…Would he see things the way he did? No, fucking hell no…But this was his father. The man he'd never seen before…This was him. This was the man his mother had waited her whole life for. He gripped the lip of the console, his knuckles going white.

_Bastard…_

"_I love you, Jake. I'm so sorry to have to leave you like this. Please forgive me. And please, don't hate your father. I'm sure he loves you and is thinking about you, and I know you two will find each other someday. Stay strong."_

The words had been engrained in his mind that day…That day he'd come home with twelve thousand bucks from his first mercenary job. That day he was going to enroll her in the best hospital around. The same day he cried over her bed like a five-year-old and choked up to the coroner because she was all he had. Now, now he didn't cry…Not anymore. Jake stared at the grainy image on the screen, his eyes half lidded, form falling limp. _I can't find someone whose dead…_

"Yes, she was activated that night at the mansion. I extracted her before Raccoon City became nothing more than a memory." The Russian replied, gesturing to 'her'. "Her and I have a lot in common. She linked with TALOS, desiring more information and more data. She wanted to know the truth, no matter how painful that reality may be." All the while, Jake watched him, the way he pointed his gun at the other guy…Completely unafraid. He was calm, collected; even the computer knew that, his heart rate even.

"_Wesker only cared about himself." Jarhead's voice rang out in his head, the café music low, and that damn coffee had burned his throat on the way down._

"_I'm sure he __**loves**__ you and is __**thinking**__ about you…" His mother's voice warred in his head, that stupid Jarhead's eyes silently pitying him. He put his drink down, leaning forward._

"_What did your mother say about him…I understand if you don't want to answer… I mean –"_

"_**Nothing**__." Jake stared out the window, jaw set, leaning back with his arms crossed. "She didn't say a damn thing…"_

"That thing is merely a tool." Once more he looked at the machine, his gaze slowly returning to the other man. "What it wants is something the user determines for it." This Russian guy must have been a threat, a really big one if his dad was so guarded… His curiosity was sparked, brow furrowed, and eyes glued to the screen.

"It's good we can be honest with each other. That's the sign of a healthy relationship; it's a shame that this friendship has to end…" The guy slowly put his arms together, red vein like appendages spreading out, grappling them together, and Jake scowled.

_I've seen plenty of those damn things change, but this officially gets a spot on the 'top ten craziest shit' I've ever witnessed…_

His jaw was spread wide, blood gushing as that giant bulbous eye appeared, and Jake's head whipped around in that split second.

_**He's **__the thing on the floor?!_

But it was gone… His eyes widened, a _hiss _sounding, like that of a snake. He barely had time to raise his head and jump out of the way, before a clawed tentacle smashed into the place he'd been standing. The metal _screech_ed, the glass and fiberglass standing no chance, and his flashlight shattered to pieces.

Jake rolled back, kneeling on the floor, and cracked his neck. "Shit, you don't die easy, do you?" He taunted, lunging out of the way when the thick incisor smashed through the floor after him once more. "Guess not…" He drew out his gun, aiming as best he could in the glow of the red tube, and fired. He knew two shots made it in by the sound of the roar the creature made, the other ricocheting off the wall.

He stood, running, and the creature smashed into the floor after him, doing a full body face plant. He would have laughed…Had it not used that giant tentacle to prop itself up seconds later. Jake leapt behind the machine just in time, the business end of the tentacle latching onto a particularly electrical laced turbine. He hunkered down when blue flashes erupted, the smell of cooked, rotting flesh assaulting his nostrils. The beast seized up, roaring in pain and fury, the long snake like appendage being thrown around madly like a club.

Jake ran around the other side, several more shots sounding out, and hissed when he realized his ammunition was out. "Goddamnit!" Out of options, he dove behind a boulder as the monster leapt. It crashed into the rock face, the sickening _squish _of its mostly rotted guts churning in Jake's ears. The thing beat its arms on the boulder, along with its head, and he watched on.

_I swear he just wants to be put out of his misery by now…_

But it seemed to want the exact opposite, as the tentacle surged up, the dead part slamming between the rocks to reach him, claw covered mouth gnashing. He clenched his teeth, laying against the cold metal floor, and grabbed it with both hands, twisting it this way and that. The erratic tug-oh-war match made his heart leap in his throat, legs kicking uselessly, and he growled. "Fuck off!" He punched it with his right hand, grappling with his left, and turned his head just as it lashed out. He saw a sizable rock to his right, his arm lashing out to grab it, and he raised his improvised weapon to wedge the fleshy thing in the crevice.

The beast went wild if it hadn't before, throwing itself against the earth, and Jake squeezed out on his back, dodging its flailing feet. He scrambled, mostly crawling in a fast haze towards the console.

_Where's my gun damnit!?_

He had three bullets left, but they were pretty damn useless without his gun. His eyes searched. There! Near the monster's thrashing left foot…

_Of course…_

He leapt forward though, crawling on his stomach, and prayed the rock was holding up. His fingers scrambled for the hilt, body squished to the floor as he reached…

_Just a little bit more and I'll light this guy up like –_

A sickening _crunch _came, the once-Russian's mutated heel meeting the barrel. And the rock just had to fall, and free the bastard at the same damn time too… Jake had just enough time to leap back, his ass hitting the floor painfully as the club-tentacle hurdled through the air. A few seconds later and he'd have been pizza for the rats…

He stood, raising his fists, and wondered what in the hell he hoped to achieve. He feigned right, the monster's moves sluggishly following with its only weapon, as he came in to round-house kick its side. The creature went down, scrambling and lashing out with all its might. Jake doubled back, unsure of how to attack, and turned. He'd have to make a run for it.

_Running isn't usually my style but –_

He spotted it even in the dark, the brown package having tumbled onto the floor when the Russian guy had attacked him at the console… Jake leaped at it just in time, the creature having righted itself to face plant after him again. He tore at the wrapping, fingers catching on the thick canvas, and inwardly hoped…

_Come on, come one…You've __**never**__ been there for me old man!_

He thought desperately, as if he could somehow convey it to him, as if thinking it hard enough would tell that blonde man he'd seen on the screen just how angry he was…Just how much he'd left him alone. Was it wrong? Was it completely stupid that for once, just once, he hoped his father would be there for him? That the only gift he'd ever receive from him would be – His heart leapt when he reached inside and felt the cool grip. Eyes wide he tore it free, raising the weapon as the creature righted itself, and with a mighty bellow it…There was no way to describe it…

The gun kicked in his hand, in a way he'd never felt before. When he held it, he could feel the indention of another's hand, the silver of the barrel catching that red glow. Then there was the sound…It didn't make any, completely silent. The eye in the creature's maw suddenly exploded, gushing all over that pasty white skin, and it gagged, dropping to its knees.

"I…should have…known…comrade…You would come to…finish…the job." Jake listened to the thickly accented Russian, panting, and slowly stood. The creature's bulbous eye deflated and the skin of it plastered about it. "Did you…not…get your fill…the first…time?"

"Who the hell are you?" Jake growled, eyes narrowed, and the creature shivered.

"You know me…Albert."

"I'm not him." He snapped. "Now answer me."

"Ah…So…You are not…my old…nemesis. I could have..sworn…Your face – No, it…matters not. I am…Sergei…Sergei, Vladimir…Or…was." He hacked, falling on the floor, but Jake could tell by the rise and fall of his pale back that he wasn't dead. "I stayed here…Fathoming my…failure. Hoping I would…get a second chance to…kill him. Or for him…to finally…kill me." He rasped, a large pool of maggoty blood surrounding him. "Why…Who are you? That you would…come here?" He jerked, the throws of death claiming him.

Jake's eyes lowered, becoming half lidded. "I was looking for something."

"For what…comrade?" He whispered, the pain of death obviously over taking him.

Jake sighed, his chest heaving, and his eyes briefly strayed over the red thing. He turned his gaze to the ceiling, shoulders sagging.

"A memory…"

J-S-R

Hi everyone, Fallen-Gabriel here! I've written two Resident Evil stories in a week's time…Wow, I have no life. Anyway, I'm getting around to updating a lot of my stories, especially _Mount Massive Academy_. I just wanted to go over '_Father_' first. (And if you haven't read my other story, I recommend you go read that one too!) I actually have another story that I'm going to churn out that hosts Sergei and a Female OC.

Moving right along, _Father_ starts off with some familiar faces, including, quite obviously, Jake! The prologue has only reached about three thousand words, contrary to my usual four thousand – it might reach more by the time I really, really go back and edit. This story will focus on Jake's somewhat unseen identity crisis. I really think that more could have been shown of this in Resident Evil Six. I mean, we see him get pissed off at the memory of Wesker, but we didn't really know his true feelings, seeing as he was willing to shoot Chris because he killed his father, regardless of what he'd done in the past. I get the feeling that Jake wanted to know him, despite it all. Or just meet him.

I really wanted to convey how desperate Jake was too when he thought _you've never been there for me old man! _Not just because Sergei was attacking him (maybe just a little), but he wanted to believe, just once, maybe something would go right.


End file.
